The Nightmare

The night after the encounter in the harbor, you had a strange dream

You were surrounded by strange figures in white and black. Their faces obscured. They slowly walked to you, surrounding you. There must have been dozens. Maybe hundreds? Their cloaks stretched back far until the darkness blotted them out. They spoke, but their words meant nothing, a dull hum in your ears, that slowly turned to a ringing. It grew and grew until all sound was bleated out, until it fell silent.

Then, one by one, the figures dissolved. As they did, they left behind pieces. One's eye. One's liver. The kidney of another. A tongue here, a femur there. Slowly they dissolved down into a single body part. Finally, one stood there. It pulled back its hood, and you stood face to face with your own reflection. As it withered away to dust the same as the others, only its beating heart was left. It beat. And beat. The noises growing so loud it was all you could hear.

You woke up in a cold sweat.